FISHING

[Bum Crack]

couple of yabbies we caught Sunday

Great effort BumCrack but the question has to be asked, why the **** would anyone need that many yabbies? A bed full and the massive pile down the back and your still cooking them No wonder there's none around when the rivers not flowing

You've obviously never seen BC eat yabbies.Seriously, people who live by the river wouldn't do anything to damage the life that's in it.
Yabbies are prolific and the quotas are set pretty high. It's not like they have a bed full of Murray Cod sitting there.

They're all angels aren't they OnSong I've seen wasted cooked yabbies by the bucket loads along the banks of the Murray, thus I know for a fact that people take too many, and they're not all foreigners OnSong. Yabbies are prolific..now...what about during times of unfavourable environmental conditions, like the last 10 years, when there were none around? This boom crash cycle has been going on for decades with yabbies. I think we all know the quotas are too high, but hey until PIRSA make a move to reduce it, full credit to Bum Crack who is dominating by the sounds of it. : Good to hear they were put to good use anyway BC. I'd hate to be working or living around you for the days following your feast as beer + hot yabbies = devastation

Yabbies have always been around, they just burrow into the clay during dry periods, which we have had for a long period of time. Yabbies come out when there is a high river. It's got nothing to do with their numbers on whether they can be caught or not. It is the rise in the water level which brings them out and when that rise happens, as we have seen this year, they are in plague proportions and 200 per person is a fair quota if you ask me. If you must know, they aren't even on the bite yet. You wait until the water drops by the end of the month. They will be everywhere.

[OnSong]

couple of yabbies we caught Sunday

Great effort BumCrack but the question has to be asked, why the **** would anyone need that many yabbies? A bed full and the massive pile down the back and your still cooking them No wonder there's none around when the rivers not flowing

You've obviously never seen BC eat yabbies.Seriously, people who live by the river wouldn't do anything to damage the life that's in it.
Yabbies are prolific and the quotas are set pretty high. It's not like they have a bed full of Murray Cod sitting there.

They're all angels aren't they OnSong I've seen wasted cooked yabbies by the bucket loads along the banks of the Murray, thus I know for a fact that people take too many, and they're not all foreigners OnSong.

I think you would be surprised. I don't know many locals who cook them by the river. Most take em home I think.

[Swamp Donkey]

So are you saying that they could never be fished out? The best part about the yabby fishery is that there doesnt seem to be a massive commercial fishery for them, this eliminates a massive amount of fishing effort on the population, which other, particularly marine species have to deal with.

[Swamp Donkey]

I must admit, they make good snapper bait when they're on the bite.

[Bum Crack]

So are you saying that they could never be fished out? The best part about the yabby fishery is that there doesnt seem to be a massive commercial fishery for them, this eliminates a massive amount of fishing effort on the population, which other, particularly marine species have to deal with.

Trust me mate. They are everywhere. If we don't get a high river next year, they will be nowhere to be seen (even after the plague proportions this year). They just go back to their holes and they will wait for as long as they have to until it's a high river and out they will come again. If yabbies were so scarce, how do you explain the sudden surge in numbers after 18 years of none being around?? They don't magically exist out of nowhere.

[Swamp Donkey]

If yabbies were so scarce, how do you explain the sudden surge in numbers after 18 years of none being around?? They don't magically exist out of nowhere.

I'm not suggesting they do. Like many of the fish species that have gone nuts in the southern reaches of the Murray they come down with flow. I understand that some have come up from in the mud but considering yabbies go from 0 grams to over 100g in around 1 year, i find it hard to believe that the yabbies that your catching at the moment are 18 years old. Its likely that they either came from upstream or the existing yabbies have had a massive reproduction event last year sometime. Likely a combination of them both. Irrespective of this, it seems there are shit loads around, so enjoy them Bum Crack.

[Bum Crack]

If yabbies were so scarce, how do you explain the sudden surge in numbers after 18 years of none being around?? They don't magically exist out of nowhere.

I'm not suggesting they do. [b]Like many of the fish species that have gone nuts in the southern reaches of the Murray they come down with flow[/b]. I understand that some have come up from in the mud but considering yabbies go from 0 grams to over 100g in around 1 year, i find it hard to believe that the yabbies that your catching at the moment are 18 years old. Its likely that they either came from upstream or the existing yabbies have had a massive reproduction event last year sometime. Likely a combination of them both. Irrespective of this, it seems there are **** loads around, so enjoy them Bum Crack.

Oh ok. So they've come from Vic and QLD where there has been drought too?? Ok, my bad.

[Swamp Donkey]

If yabbies were so scarce, how do you explain the sudden surge in numbers after 18 years of none being around?? They don't magically exist out of nowhere.

I'm not suggesting they do. [b]Like many of the fish species that have gone nuts in the southern reaches of the Murray they come down with flow[/b]. I understand that some have come up from in the mud but considering yabbies go from 0 grams to over 100g in around 1 year, i find it hard to believe that the yabbies that your catching at the moment are 18 years old. Its likely that they either came from upstream or the existing yabbies have had a massive reproduction event last year sometime. Likely a combination of them both. Irrespective of this, it seems there are **** loads around, so enjoy them Bum Crack.

Oh ok. So they've come from Vic and QLD where there has been drought too?? Ok, my bad.

You and I both know water has been entering the system at various points upstream throughout this drought, its only now that the system is full enough for excess water to be able to continue to the lower reaches in SA. If your under the impression that flow wouldn't be carrying small fish and yabbies and the like downstream then your kidding yourself.

[Bum Crack]

Yabbies are crawlers mate. That's some serious mileage from QLD and Victoria to crawl. I'm over this debate. I know I'm right so I'm not going to continue on with it

[Goat Herder]

They burrow into the mud during dry spells, they stay alive (obviously comatose or hibernating etc) and when the water covers their temporary 'grave', they crawl out. I can assure you they have NOT travelled 2000kms and ended up in SA.

Really gives me the irrits when people have a crack at others for taking legal limits, whether it's fish, shellfish, crustaceans or whatever. If YOU choose to take far less than your limit, that is YOUR choice. Just don't bag others if they do.

ANYHOW, on another note, I headed out from OH with a mate on Saturday morning and scooted out across the Gulf in perfect boating conditions to a well-known spot. At around 11:15am, my mate's reel starts smokin'. Something had nailed his live chow. Anyway, after several spirited runs, the fish slugged it out up & down for 10mins before this beauty was netted and dragged over the gunwales. 98.5cm and 11.6kg.

[OnSong]

How big is your oven GH?

[Q.]

Methinks Swampy might know a thing or two about freshwater ecology. FWIW I think the high numbers are due to a combination of both theories.

[Goat Herder]

Not that big mate.. I think Fred is gonna cook it in his Weber this weekend.

I recommended to freeze it whole (if his freezer is big enough.. ) and bandsaw it into cutlets & straight back into the freezer. Perfect size for that. Personally, I lop the fillets off & cut them into smaller 'steaks'. Then when I want to eat some, I thaw it out, cut with the grain of the flesh about 6-7ml thick, flour, egg, breadcrumb mix & shallow fry. Mmmmmm! Tends to avoid that 'stringy' sort of texture you can get with big snapper, especially cooked whole..

[Mythical Creature]

Methinks Swampy might know a thing or two about freshwater ecology. FWIW I think the high numbers are due to a combination of both theories.

Knowing Donkey and what he does for a crust I'm pretty confident he would know what he is on about.

[Goat Herder]

Methinks Swampy might know a thing or two about freshwater ecology. FWIW I think the high numbers are due to a combination of both theories.

Well if he does, he's doing a great job of masking his knowledge...

Yes, the floods are a result of the WATER coming down from Qld etc, but the yabbies would be almost 100% local dwellers.

Whoa! How dare I question the regulars?!?

[Swamp Donkey]

Your a peanut Goat Herder, if you read my posts mate, you'll see that I haven't disagreed with BC, i'm simply having a decent discussion with him, but he seems to be a bit rattled by the whole thing. What gives me the irrits is when people like yourself claim to know everything. I certainly don't. I'm just having a healthy discussion.
For the record, a yabby in berry is a yabby incubating her eggs. Once these eggs are released (remember they're not chook eggs by the way mate) they do not have control over their movements and are often transported to other areas, usually by flow. I'm not suggesting, nor have I, if you read my post GH, that they crawl over into SA from Vic or QLD, what I'm saying is that many of the small yabbies that were around 6-8 months ago, were released as larvae from yabbies further upstream when conditions were favourable for reproduction, and have since settled in some of the lower regions of the Murray. I am sure that some of these yabbies that Bum Crack has caught have resurfaced from the mud, but to think that they have been there 18 years, as he suggested, and are still the size of a beer can is a bit hard to believe given the known growth rates for the species in other parts of Aust.

I'm not a yabby expert, nor do I claim to be, nor do I buy my snapper from the North Arm seafood markets for a photo in my flash boat Goat Herder (just kidding mate ), but seeing all those yabbies just made me think a bit.

Take a chill pill!

PS same goes for fish, having seen the number of juvenile redfin in the Coorong at the moment (Hundreds of thousands), I can guarantee small fish and crustaceans get carried hundreds of KM in thier larval stages.

[Goat Herder]

Quite fond of peanuts as a matter of fact.

Without tagging and recapture, I guess it's all just speculation hey? What you propose is certainly possible, but I'd imagine the vast majority of what are finding their way into the drop-nets right now would be resident dwellers. How else would you explain the best yabbying to be had is in the backwaters once they fill up?

As for being labelled a "peanut", I'm not the one having a crack at someone else for taking within their legal catch limits.

Happy to add to the "discussion" without the angst however..

[Swamp Donkey]

Quite fond of peanuts as a matter of fact.

Without tagging and recapture, I guess it's all just speculation hey? What you propose is certainly possible, but I'd imagine the vast majority of what are finding their way into the drop-nets right now would be resident dwellers. How else would you explain the best yabbying to be had is in the backwaters once they fill up?

As for being labelled a "peanut", I'm not the one having a crack at someone else for taking within their legal catch limits.

Happy to add to the "discussion" without the angst however..

I can't be bother editing out the insults like you did mate, so move on.

Do you not think yabbies can crawl into backwaters from the main channel?

Ayway, I'm with Bum Crack, I've had my say on the subject and will move on. As I said earlier, top effort Bum Crack for getting himself a feed. I've been up there too recently and let me say I was happy the limit was a 200, cos I didn't take another ice box with me!

[Bum Crack]

decided to delete my post. I'm over it. Someone post a bag limit of whiting or snapper for god's sake

[Goat Herder]

Oh yeah, I often see swarms of yabbies migrating en masse across the plains into the backwaters.. It's an epidemic!

Nice back-pedalling too champ. One post you're having a crack at The 'Crack for taking as many as he did and now you're "with him"..?!? It gets better!